Cynicalriders "J0hnny5 is ALIVE!" 01 build thread.

Yea I'm a big fan of that site. Do a big order every once in a while with misc. small parts I need, shipping can just get high with big stuff. I got a replacement passenger mirror for like 11$ though and a lot of parts for the valve cover gasket job that have been sitting for a year haha.

I'm trying to avoid machining the female side since it would be a super expensive part to make from what I can tell. Blind hole splines with low tolerance for error really the only low quantity production option is EDM where they erode little bits of metal slowly with sparks.

 

Out of curiosity and some discussion with @ToyRyd04 this morning I had to go back and find this post to see what treatment was done before the vinyl floor. Apparently, a lot. I guess it bought me 6 years though

And what I am looking at today.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

As I was wire wheeling I realized the tunnel for the seat mount corner was compromised so I cut that out. I'll box/plate it to bring back strength. I pretty much got this whole section wire wheeled and cleaned up. As I was working on that I found the one section under my feet looked rough so now I need to dig into that. I also cut more of the tub out to make sure no more rust was hiding behind the metal.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I always had assumed that the water was getting in through the tub but I believe the door seals are probably more to blame based on the splash marks on the speaker and side of the dash.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I wish I had the time/dough/space to cab swap it now but I just don't. So The goal is to treat it well enough to get me by for another 5-10 years and hope some clean southern cabs still exist out there then.

Then I can learn from all my mistakes doing it the first time, retub for 37's right away, completely strip and deaden the cab, and maybe even put a cage in.

 

It's too bad that OEM door seal replacements are unreasonably expensive

 

This threads due for an update.

Officially retubbed the firewall. Damn I loved using the 16 ga. It was a bit to form but was hell of a lot easier to weld on than the 20ga.

Driver:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Passenger:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Seat bracket tunnel repaired:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Misc interior repairs:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Things I am a fan of:

Eastwoods version of POR-15 aka rust encapsolator. Super hard finish when dry.
Eastwoods internal chassis coating. The 360* style spray made it easy to coat inside both rocker cavities.
Eastwoods brushable seam sealer. Easily apply with an acid brush from a can, no caulk tubes to fuck with.

I also figured out why my remote door locks stopped working like 2 years ago. Turns out a diode was loose on the aftermarket install/lock setup so I soldered the connection vs the half ass twist wrap it had.

I also replaced both door switches and I am slowly putting the interior back together. Waiting on body plugs before I glue the floor foam back down. Also have new fairchild door seals on the way. Will have it out of the garage in a week max at this point, which is good because Bronco projects are starting to pile up.

 

Trucks been back together and out a while now, immediately took it to the pines with the kid for a day in the woods.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I've used it here and there for riding trips but not much else. About to put it into heavier use to prep for the Bronco being down for a bit while I do the final winch install.

Also had a mini project for the kiddo. @Chux gave us a 4wd car for my son to play with. I decided I wanted to add some custom flair to it/restore it a bit.

How it came home:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And how it almost didn't make it home:

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It wouldn't have gone anywhere though because it was strapped at the main frame.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

He loves it but one motor burnt out and the control board was fried. So I fixed those and then upgraded all the ligthing/replaced all the lenses.

Work in progress:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And all done:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

He really loves it and loves comparing it to the Tacoma.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

Took the boy out of the house for Mother's Day.

Met up with @Yota X and explored some trails by him.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Untitled by MJH Creations, on FlickrUntitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Felt good to get the Tacoma out to stretch its legs, especially since I've been using the Bronco for a lot of my camping/riding trips lately.

 

It's been a minute. Over Father's Day weekend I took my son to Rausch for the first time. It was also the first time I had him in the front seat so he can really see everything on the trail.

I hit up @HolyHandGrenade @Rockbaron1 and @surfishjoe to join us for the trip.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

We started the day off with Joe's UCA seperating from the spindle.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

We ratchet strapped it together to get him off the trail. We later found out that the person who welded his spindle gussets installed the slug adapter upside down.

The rest of the trip was drama free minus losing the trail on trail 13 because of deadfall. It definitely seems like Rausch isn't getting the traffic it used to.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
by MJH Creations, on Flickr

The most fun trails for me were def crawl daddy and 17 uphill. It was a fight with loose dirt mixed with rock ledges to get up it but we all did without winching.

Joe's son and my son got to play together a bunch at camp which was really cool too. Love having more kids for him to play with on trips. Joe also let him try his RC crawler and he was doing great with it so I'm getting him one for his bday now.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Overall it was an awesome way to spend Fathers Day weekend getting both this girl and my boy out.

by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

It was also nice remembering what the Tacoma is capable of, it's been a minute since I really pushed it and I love remembering how capable it still is. It def reignited the desire to install the crawlbox soon.

 

Was anything salvageable from that UBJ failure, ie the adapter, c-clip, or ball joint?

 

My daughter really liked have the passenger seat removed for our trip across the country so she could see out the front. Moab reminded me of what they are capable of. Haven't really pushed mine or myself in a few years.

 

so the c clip yeeted itself which makes sense since it’s not supposed to have that force on it at full droop. Once that happened it just needed to unload again and it popped right out. I think everything was salvageable minus the boot right @surfishjoe ?

yeah them being able to see is huge. I was actually thinking if I go west again solo I’ll be removing the front seat to make a fridge platform. Would make accessing it so much nicer like I do when I have it in the back seat of the Bronco

 

It was a game changer to have cold snacks and drinks within arms reach.

 

Wassup?!
I’m still reply banned on the NJ thread.

 

What's up Lloyd? You still wheeling and stuff? Haven't seen you around in a minute!

 

Been

I’ve been raising my girls! Last one graduated from college a month ago.
And fishing. Lots of fishing!

 

Damn, I feel like mine is gonna be there before I know it. We gotta hit mahwah or something soon.

I don't think I realized I haven't updated this thread in a minute. No mods to the truck recently yet but lots of plans for work ahead.

Hit Rausch in Sept with Pat and two Jersey guys were camped next to us so we ended up wheeling with them. The one dude had a jeep and the other this badass built Dakota:

https://www.motortrend.com/news/2002-dodge-dakota/

We ran a bunch of shit including some trails I have never done before like Devils Den and Lower Talisman.

The start of lower Talisman:

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Some video of Devil's Den:

https://youtube.com/shorts/wVtPqnq5Xxs

We ended the day on 21 (or at least the fun first half) and shot up Crawl Daddy.

Overall it was a ton of fun and stoked to make some new wheeling friends.

Some pics from the trip:

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

And this was also the first trip where my son and I both had our RC crawlers:

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Non truck news but shop news, got a plasma:

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Used it, and my new dimple die set to make some slider extensions/steps for the Bronco. I basically took the main oem "rock rail" and welded a kit meant for a jeep JK to the main rails. I then cut, punched and dimple died the pieces for the steps. it was very good practice and I really had a lot of fun with this project.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

My next major fab purchase will be the affordable bender setup so I can finally get the back finished how I wanted it on this truck.

Oh and these also came in for the Tacoma.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Will be re-painting the wheels this week to prep for mounting.

 

So I took the wheels off to repaint them and while they were off learned that my drum was stuck and the star adjuster was totally locked up.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

So I was like fuck it, I'll get it in the shop to dig into this bull shit. The backing plate was totally rusted and fucked so I was going to pull the assembly apart, replace the axle studs, backing plate, star adjuster and other hardware. And then while I had one axle out I figure I might as well pull the other and pull the third to fix the leaky diff once and for all. @ToyRyd04 tack welded the drain plug back in like 2017 or so when it almost totally backed out on a trail. I have been pumping the fluid out to replace it so figure I weld this shut and replace two bottom studs with bolts to drain it that way.

But of course another problem reared it's head while it was in the garage, it stunk like hell of gasoline and I had no idea why.

I unbolted and raised the bed to see if there were any leaks from the top side. I figured maybe the filler neck was cracked or something but nope. So I pulled the gas tank skid off and finally saw the real cause.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

I guess the rust pushed back the welded seal.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

I knew this project would take fucking forever if I tried to do it piece mail 1-2 hours at a time like I usually work on stuff. Took off last week and just tried to hammer through whatever I could in 8 hours.

I got the diff drained and welded. I am going to skin the bottom with leftover 10g I have. It took some time to cut the old drain plugs welds apart because its just been smushed over from years of dragging it. I welded a nut and it came right out.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

After I got it drained I pulled the third so I could get to work.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

I screwed a new plug from the inside and welded it in.

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I then welded the bottom of the plug and kept going to fully fill in the circle and grind it flush.

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My thought is to skin the bottom where it is constantly dragging just to know it won't eventually rub through or something. I know the bottom of the housing is pretty damn thick already but I figure just do it and never worry until I finally get a built ff axle.

After that I fought with this fucker for like an hour trying to free it.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

I ended up needing to pry between the backing plate and drum to cut the springs with a dremel and carbide bit. It eventually let go and I went to work pressing the old shit off.

First my method using a bearing splitter to pull the tone ring and first collar:

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Then finally pressing the bearing out of the backing plate:

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

I also have found a good PC place that is only 20 mins away so I have been sending them a lot of my projects lately. Figure while it's all apart I'll get the gas tank skid, my under bed storage and e locker guard PC'd. Turns out the welds on the e locker guard cracked so I welded that back together before drop off.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

I was also always curious about how the CV that has lived under the bed for 5 years now is holding up.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

It looks like the methods I used to protect the surfaces that need to stay clean has worked so when I put it back I will probably use the same methods.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

I am waiting on the TG stud replacement kit to come in but have everything I need to at least get the axle/backing plate done so I will be chipping away at reassembly now.

 

Hi Mike what paint did you use looks good!

 

Thanks man! It's the VHT Graphite wheel paint + VHT wheel clear coat. How is your truck? Pat said it broke again at fall crawl?

 

HAHA yep all was going good I was heading back to camp after 2 full days of wheeling when I felt a new scary noise jolt me through the driveline it was the rear end this time let go without warning on flat downhill trail. Had to tow her home. She is all good new third member from ECGS and my drum brakes are all tuned up and e brake working again so that is good. She stops on a dime now!

 

We recently lost a very close friend of ours, @hunyebear69, and wanted to dedicate a specific spot he shared with my in his honor. So @Wheelspinner @Chux @MattiveAmerican and I got a sign laser cut, added a patina and backed it with aluminum and hung it there. We camped there after his celebration of life so we could share stories about him and honor him properly. Now we at least have a place we can go and feel him all around us.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

The sign came out better than we could ever hope for.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

We hung it and then camped talking about all the wild times we had with him and how much he meant to us all.

The next day we saw it in all it's glory. We didn't even realize how well the sun hits it as sunrise comes.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

We also went out on the frozen lake, it was wild how low it was and all the stumps that were there in what I assume was a man made lake.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

The whole thing was bittersweet. It was nice seeing everyone again but the circumstances was absolute shit. We miss him every day.

This was the last time I camped with him at that spot around my birthday in 2022.

Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr